DOI 10.

1007/s11182-017-1121-8

Russian Physics Journal, Vol. 60, No. 4, August, 2017 (Russian Original No. 4, April, 2017)

HADRON STRUCTURE IN HOLOGRAPHIC QUANTUM

CHROMODYNAMICS
V. E. Lyubovitskij,1,2,3,4 T. Gutsche,1 and I. Schmidt2 UDC 530.12

Hadrons and multiquark states are discussed within the context of holographic quantum chromodynamics. This
approach is based on an action that describes the hadron structure with breaking of conformal and chiral
symmetry and includes confinement through the presence of a background dilaton field. According to
gauge/gravity duality, five-dimensional boson and fermion fields, moving in AdS space, are dual to the four-
dimensional fields on the surface of the AdS sphere, which correspond to hadrons. In this framework, the
hadron wave functions – the building blocks of the hadron properties – are dual to the profiles of the AdS fields
in the fifth (holographic) dimension, which is identified with a scale. As applications, we consider the
properties of hadrons and multiquark states.

Keywords: quantum chromodynamics, hadrons, holography.

INTRODUCTION

The last few decades have been marked by significant progress in the construction and application of
holographic approaches in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), based on gauge/gravity duality [1]. This duality has
several applications. The two most significant are: 1) the correspondence between the generating functionals in the two
approaches establishes a connection between the parameters of string theory and the Yang–Mills SU ( N ) theory; and
2) the conformal group, acting in the theory on the surface of AdS space, is isomorphic to the SO(4,2) group, which is
the group of isometries of the given space. According to the dictionary of holography, AdS/QCD or holographic QCD
(HQCD) is an approximation to QCD that attempts to model hadron physics in terms of fields/strings in a space of
higher dimensions – AdS space. Approaches based on HQCD reproduce the main features of QCD at low and high
energies: chiral symmetry, confinement, and a power-law behavior of the hadron form factors. It should be noted that
the additional fifth dimension has a clear physical interpretation as a scale. AdS/QCD approaches are divided into two
types: 1) top-down approaches – a low-energy approximation of string theory, which attempts to find a gravitational
analog of the properties of QCD (e.g., the Sakai–Sugimoto model), and 2) bottom-up approaches – these are more
phenomenological approaches that make use of properties of QCD to construct a 5-dimensional dual theory including
gravity in AdS space. To go in the direction of QCD, it is necessary: 1) to violate conformal invariance and generate
a mass gap; and 2) via a Kaluza–Klein (KK) expansion of the five-dimensional AdS fields, to introduce a set of
normalized fields (KK modes) which are dual to the hadron wave functions. The bottom-up AdS/QCD approaches have
two main realizations of violation of conformal invariance and introduction of confinement – versions with a hard and
a soft wall. In the model with a hard wall, the AdS geometry is bounded by two surfaces – the ultraviolet (UV) surface
( z =   0) and the infrared (IR) surface ( z = zIR ) . The hard wall model gives an incorrect linear dependence of the

1
Institute für Theoretische Physik, Universität Tübingen, Kepler Center for Astro and Particle Physics, e-mail:
valeri.lyubovitskij@uni-tuebingen.de; 2Departamento de Fisica y Centro Cientifico Technologico de Valparaiso
(CCTVal), Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria, Valparaiso, Chile; 3National Research Tomsk State University,
Tomsk, Russia; 4National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh
Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 84–96, April, 2017. Original article submitted January 20, 2017.

652 1064-8887/17/6004-0652 2017 Springer Science+Business Media New York

hadron masses on the angular momentum. This approach is an analog of the quark bag model [2] and is close to the
covariant constituent quark model with infrared confinement developed in [3]. In the soft wall model, a soft cutoff of
AdS space is introduced due to a dilaton field [4–10]. The success of this approach consists in the fact that it gives an
analytical solution of the equation of motion for the profiles of the AdS fields in the fifth dimension and reproduces the
Regge behavior of the hadron masses.
In this paper, we consider the holographic approach based on the soft wall model, developed in [5–10]. We
present applications of our approach to the properties of hadrons and multiquark states. In particular, we present results
for the hadron masses, form factors, and the parton distributions, the transverse momentum distribution, and the Wigner
and Husimi distributions [5–10].

HOLOGRAPHIC APPROACH WITH A SOFT WALL

Let us briefly review the proposed approach. To start with, we define the metric of five-dimensional AdS
space:

ds 2 = g MN dx M dx N = ab e2 A( z ) dx a dxb = e2 A( z ) ( dx dx  dz 2 ) ,  = diag(1, 1, 1, 1, 1) , (1)

where gMN and ab are the metric tensors of curved space and flat space, which are connected by the vielbein
 aM ( z ) = e A( z )  aM : g MN =  aM bN ab , z is the holographic coordinate, R is the AdS radius, and g =| detgMN | . In
what follows, we will limit ourselves to the conformal metric with A( z ) = log( R/z ) .
The AdS/QCD actions for boson and fermion fields of the spin J are [5–7]

 M M
S B = d 4 xdz g e ( z )  DM  M M ( x, z ) D M  1 J ( x, z )
1 J


 
   BJ

 U JB ( z )  M M ( x, z ) 1 J ( x, z )  ,
2 M M
(2)
  1 J


S F = S F  S F , S F = d 4 xdz g e ( z )    M M ( x, z )iDM


  M1M J ( x, z )
i = ,
 1 J

 M1M J
 M ( x, z )(( FJ ) 2  U JF ( z ))  ( x, z )  , (3)
1M J 


where DM and DM are covariant derivatives (including external vector and axial fields) acting on the boson field
 
 M M and the fermion field  M , respectively,  M is a pair of profile fermion fields, which are
1 J 1M J 1M J

holographic analogs of the left- and right-chiral fermion operators in the 4-dimensional theory, ( z ) =  2 z 2 is the
dilaton field, where  is a free scale parameter, and  BJ and  FJ are the masses of the boson and fermion AdS fields
with spin J , associated with the conformal dimension (  BJ ,  FJ ): ( BJ R ) 2 =  BJ (  BJ  4),  FJ R =  FJ  2 . As was
shown in [6, 11], the dimensions of the fields  BJ and  FJ are determined by the twist dimensions B/F of the hadron
B F 1 7
operators by the relations  J =  B = 2  L and  J =  F 
=  L. Here L = max | Lz | is the maximum value of
2 2
the z -component of the quark orbital angular momentum in a hadron [11]: U JB ( z ) = 4( z )( J  1)/R 2 and

653
U JF ( z ) = ( z )/R are the effective dilaton potentials. It should be noted that an appropriate choice of the quadratic
dilaton and the potentials U JB ( z ) and U JF ( z ) is necessary to guarantee correct Regge behavior of the hadron masses
and asymptotic power-law behavior of the hadron form factors at large momentum transfers in accordance with the
quark counting rules [5–10].
One of the main achievements of our approach is that most of the calculations can be done analytically. As our
first step, we will show how in the given approach the wave functions and the hadron spectrum are calculated (for
details, see [5–7]). After transforming to a space with a Lorentz signature and transforming the AdS fields

  = e( z )/2 A( z ) J   ,    = e( z )/2 A( z )( J 1/2)   (4)

1 J 1 J 1 J 1 J

we split the fermion fields into left-chiral and right-chiral fields

  ( x, z ) =  L ( x, z )   R ( x, z ) (5)

1 J 1 J 1 J

 L /R
and perform a KK expansion for   ( x, z ) and    ( x, z ) :
1 J 1 J

  ( x, z ) = n   ( x) Fn ( z ) ,
1 J 1 J
n

1
  L/R ( x, z ) =  nL/R1 J ( x)GnL/R ( z ) , (6)
1 J 2 n

where the set of KK fields n   ( x) is dual to the 4-dimensional fields describing mesons with spin J, while the KK
1 J

fields  L/R ( x, z ) are dual to the left/right-chiral fermion fields describing baryons with spin J , and n is the radial
1 J
quantum number. The functions Fn ( z) are the profiles of the boson AdS fields in the holographic dimension, which
are dual to the meson wave functions with twist  and radial quantum number n . In the case of bosons and baryons,
we perform a rescaling

Fn ( z ) = e 3/2 A( z ) f n ( z ), GnR/L ( z ) = e 2 A( z ) g nR/L ( z ) (7)

in order to obtain the Schrödinger-type equations of motion for f n and g nL/R ( z ) :

 2 4 L2  1 
  z  2
  4 z 2  2  2 ( J  1)  f n ( z ) = M B2 ,nJ f n ( z ) , (8)
 4z 

 2 4 2 2 1  m( m  1)  L/R 2 L /R
  z   z  2  m  2   2  g n ( z ) = M F , n g n ( z ) . (9)
   z 

Here m =   3/2 , and M B ,nJ , and M F ,n are the masses of the bosons and fermions which are dual to the
corresponding hadrons. The given equations have analytical solutions: the wave functions are given by

2(n  1) 1 3/2 2 z 2 /2  2 2 2

f n ( z ) =  z e Ln (  z ) ,
(n    1)

654
 2(n  1)  1/2 2 z 2 /2 1 2 2
g nL ( z ) =  z e Ln (  z ) , (10)
 ( n  )

2(n  1) 1 3/2 2 z 2 /2 2 2 2

g nR ( z ) =  z e Ln (  z )
(n    1)

2  J 
2
and the mass spectra are given by M B ,nJ =4  n   1 and M F2 ,n =42 (n    1) .
 2 
Thus, our main idea is to find solutions for the profiles of the AdS fields in the direction of the z -coordinate
and then to calculate the hadron wave functions in terms of the profiles of the AdS fields that are dual to the hadron
wave functions. In this case, both the mass spectrum and the dynamical properties of the hadrons, such as the form
factors and parton distributions, are calculated from a unified point of view based on solutions of equations of motion of
Schrödinger type. It can also be seen that the profiles of the AdS fields have correct behavior at small z , which leads to
correct power-law behavior of the calculated hadron form factors at large Q 2 . Another important property of the
profiles of the AdS fields is that they vanish at large z (confinement). So far, we have discussed solutions of the
equations of motion for the profiles of the AdS fields on their mass surface p 2 = M 2 . In the case when we go off mass
shell, we can calculate the so-called bulk-to-boundary propagators describing the propagation of the AdS profiles from
an interior point of the AdS space onto its surface for arbitrary values of p 2 , which are needed to evaluate the
momentum dependence of the matrix elements in our approach. In particular, the bulk-to-boundary propagator for the
vector AdS field, dual to the electromagnetic field, is given in analytical form in terms of the gamma function (n)

 Q2   Q2 
and the Tricomi function U (a, b, z ) : V (Q, z ) =   1 
 2 
 U  2 ,0,  2 z 2  . The propagator V (Q, z ) satisfies the
 4   4 
normalization condition V (0, z ) =1 in agreement with gauge invariance, and also satisfies the UV and IR boundary
conditions V (Q,0) =1 and V (Q, ) = 0 . The UV condition corresponds to a local (structureless) coupling constant of
the electromagnetic field with the matter fields while the IR condition means that the propagator goes to zero at infinity
z =  . For example, the expression for the meson form factor in the arbitrary case is given in the form of an integral
over the variable z of the product of V (Q, z ) and the AdS profiles corresponding to the wave functions of the initial

(in) and final (fin) meson: FM (Q 2 ) =  dzV (Q, z ) f in ( z ) f fin ( z ).
0
Another achievement of our approach is the possibility to constrain the form of the wave functions on the light
front (for details, see the discussion in [5–10]) based on a correspondence of the matrix elements of physical processes
in AdS/QCD and QCD on the light front. The idea of such a correspondence was proposed in [11]. The next step would
be to include effects of quark masses in line with the constraints imposed by chiral symmetry and the effective theory of
heavy quarks.

APPLICATIONS

One of the remarkable properties of the considered approach is that we can construct effective light-front wave
functions (LFWF) using matrix elements for physical processes calculated in AdS/QCD. In particular, we can write the
LFWFs of a nucleon in the form

k 1  ik 2 (2)
  q ( x, k ) = (1) 
q ( x, k ),   q ( x, k ) =   q ( x, k  ) ,
xM N

655
 k1  ik 2 (2)
  q ( x, k ) = q ( x, k ),   q ( x, k ) = (1)
q ( x, k  ) ,
xM N

4 qv ( x)  qv ( x)  k2 
(1)
q ( x, k  ) = Dq(1) ( x) exp    2 Dq(1) ( x)  ,
MN 2  2 M N 

4 qv ( x)  qv ( x) (2)  k2 
(2)
q ( x, k  ) = Dq ( x) exp    2 Dq(2) ( x)  . (11)
MN 2  2 M N 

Here M N is the mass of the nucleon.

(1) (2)
The wave functions q and q are normalized as follows:

d 2 k qv ( x)  qv ( x)
 3
[(1) 2
q ( x, k )] = ,
16 2

d 2 k k2 qv ( x)  qv ( x)
 3
[(2) 2
q ( x, k  )] = ,
16 M N2 2

1
d 2 k nq  g Aq
dx  3
[(1)
q ( x, k )]
2
= ,
0 16 2

1
d 2 k k2 nq  g Aq
dx  3 2
[(2)
q ( x, k  )]
2
= , (12)
0 16 M N 2

q
where nq is the number of u and d valence quarks in a proton, g A is the axial charge of a quark with flavor q = u
and d . Using these LFWFs, we can calculate the electromagnetic form factors, the Wigner and Husimi distributions,
etc. Analytical expressions for these observables can be found in [10]. Figures 1–6 show the results for the x -
dependence of unpolarized and polarized functions of the parton distribution (PDF), the transverse momentum
distribution (TMD) function, the Wigner and Husimi distributions, and selected results for quark and nucleon
electromagnetic form factors. As our input to the wave functions, we use the results for the parton distributions (helicity
dependent and independent) derived at next-to-leading order (NLO) at scale  2NLO = 0.40 GeV2 [12]. Next, in Figs. 7
and 8 we show our predictions for the electromagnetic form factors and structure functions of the deuteron.
The authors thank Stan Brodsky, Lev Lipatov, Oleg Teryaev, Werner Vogelsang, and Marat Siddikov for
useful discussions.
V. E. L. thanks Departamento de Fisica y Centro Cientifico Technologico de Valparaiso (CCTVal) and
Universidad Technica Federico Santa Maria (Valparaiso, Chile) for the warm welcome. In memory of my
parents (V. E. L.).
This work was supported in part by the Federal Ministry for Education and Scientific Research (BMBF),
Project 05P2015-ALICE at High Rate (BMBF-FSP 202), the Heisenberg–Landau Program, Tomsk State University
within the scope of the Program for the Enhancement of Competitiveness, the Russian Federal Program Science
(Contract No. 0.1526.2015, 3854), CONICYT (Chile) Research Project No. 80140097 and Grants No. 7912010025 and
No. 1140390, and PIA/Basal FB0821.

656
0.5

x u(x)
0.4

x uv(x)
0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
x u(x)
0.1

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

x

0.5

x d(x)
0.4

0.3 x dv(x)

0.2

0.1

0.0
x d(x)

0.1

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

x

Fig. 1. Quark parton distributions, PDF.

657
 3.0
uv
x g1T (x)
2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0 x f1uv(x)

0.5 x h1uv(x)
uv
x g1L (x)
uv
0.0 x h1T (x)

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

x

x f1dv(x)
dv
x g1L (x)

0.0
x h1dv (x)

dv
x h1T (x)

0.5

dv
x g1T (x)
1.0

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

x

Fig. 2. Quark parton distributions, PDF and TMD.

658
 2.0

1.5
4
Q F1 (Q ), GeV

1.0
2
u
4

0.5

0.0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
2 2
Q , GeV

0.30

0.25
4
Q F1 (Q ), GeV

0.20
2

0.15
d
4

0.10

0.05

0.00

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
2 2
Q , GeV

Fig. 3. Dirac electromagnetic form factors of quarks, multiplied by Q 4 .

659
 06
.

0.5

04
.
4
Q F2 (Q ), GeV

0.3
2
u

0.2
4

0.1

0.0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Q2, GeV 2

0.0

0.2

0.4
4
Q F2 (Q ), GeV

0.6
2
d

0.8
4

1.0

1.2

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
2 2
Q , GeV

Fig. 4. Pauli electromagnetic form factors of quarks, multiplied by Q 4 .

660
Fig. 5. Wigner distributions.

661
 Fig. 6. Husimi distributions.

662
 1

GC(Q )
2 0.01

10–4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
–1
Q, fm
1

0.1 b
MN /Md GM(Q )
2

0.01

0.001

10–4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
–1
Q, fm

10

c
GQ(Q )
2

0.01

0.001
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
–1
Q, fm

Fig. 7. Form factors of the deuteron: GC (a), magnetic GM (b), and quadrupole GQ (c).

663
 1

0.01 a
A(Q )
2

10–4

10–6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
–1
Q, fm

0.01

10–4
b
B(Q )
2

10–6

10–6

10–10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
–1
Q, fm

Fig. 8. Structure functions of the deuteron A (a) and B (b).

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